How to run an exit node anonymously?

Question

How do I run an exit node anonymously? By anonymously, I mean that nobody can identify who created or runs the exit node. I know that the IP addresses of exit nodes will be publicly available, so I am assuming that I will have to run the exit node somewhere far away from my location. But I need more clarification on how to exactly do this.

Answer 1

I guess running an exit node is quite hard and also not recommended. When there are issues with a node the Tor Project often contacts the administrators. If this is not working for some reason, the node gets dropped from the network. So first you should create a mail account and make sure that you read incoming mail. I wrote some hints in my answer to the question "how to send email anonymous from Gmail". As you need to continuously read and sometimes write mail, it is easy to make mistakes and loose the anonymity.

Next step is getting and using a computer for the exit node. You can either

1. use some private device
2. use a machine inside an operating center

When you want to use a private device, you need to get it in an anonymous way (buy at a local market, make sure there is no CCTV, pay with cash, etc.). The question is, which network to use.

When you want to use a machine in some operating center, mostly you'll need a contract and have to pay some fee on a recurring basis. There are some providers which allow to register only with an email address, some fantasy name and use some form of electronic currency or cash. If you are careful, you can register and pay the service in an anonymous way.

Now you can use the machine, install and configure Tor. All those steps should happen over a SSH connection and using your Tor client.

If you consider all those steps and think about OPSEC, it should be possible to run a node in an anonymous way.